Ventilator suit



June 27, 1950 J, DAKERMAN 2,512,990

VENTILATOR SUIT Filed July 9, 194'? JOHN p. AKERMAN Patented June 27 1950 NITED EiS )PATE'NT "OFFICE VENTILATORQ-SUIT JohnAkenman, mnneapolis, Minn.

Application July 9, 1947; SerialNo. 759,776

(Ci. 2-.-s1)

4 .Claims.

This-invention relates to. a ventilating harness ion-conducting air to various pointsin the int-teriornof clothing, such asa fiying suit-:which 1s adapted to cover practicallytheaentire body'surfaceof the wearer. 7

Many flying suits provide for moreor less completehbody coverage andin many instances in- -cludea'helmet structure. They are worn as-wa protection against the cold' at high altitudes.

iI-Iowever, before the fiyer has left the groundandbefore heihas reachedv the cooler higher altitudes, the suits are extremely uncomfortablevsince they "are too Warm under such'circumstances. Ifxa flyer puts on a suit and perspires considerably-before he ascends to the cool high altitudes'meni tioned above, the moisture is likely to chill. him :when such altitudes are reached.

'In addition to suits used for flying there are other. body enclosing. garments such :ascoverall xsuits worn by miners andpeoplein other .occupations where the suit is merely a protection against dustandnirt. In such cases .the suits cause the riwearers to become overheated with theresulting danger of catchin cold in addition to .lthezdis- :comfort of overheating.

"lt isthe general object. of :the invention. to;proz rvide'a ventilating harness comprisingta'system of ventilatingtube sec tionsconnected to aniinlet :tions broken away,-of thestructure shown-in'=Figure 2.

Figure 4 is a plan view, with portions broken away; of a T branch used in leg and arm portions of the system.

the conduit and-showing it attached by stitching to the inner side of the suit.

In Figures 5 through-TI have shown a typical ventilating conduit section 8' which-includes a helical 'wire element's having a casing thereon =made*up of a transversely U shaped cover portion I 0 and a fiat strip I l which is secured to out- --wardly extendingflanges ma on'the cover-portion by adhesive or stitching or both. Obviouslyanother suitable fastenin means can be used.

' A conduit of this structure is readily flexible yet highly resistant to'collapse by reason of the helical wire element 9., The fabric making up the cover portions Hi and H is preferably resistant to the passage of air through it so that air can be readily conducted to the outer end portions.

' of the several conduit sections to :be'describedwbeconduit, the several sections of the harness". being vsecurable. to various partsof the body or toathe rinterior: of :the suitv and wherein ventilatingput- :l'ets'are providedat desirablemintstd conduct air to and cool various portions of the' bodycof the/:wearer.

Another object of the invention is to provideventilating apparatus made up of a system of stubingaas::mentioned above; wherein the tubing is readily flexible yet non-collapsibleso 'that'it will freely conduct air even though the tubing is bent with movement of body parts and it will also resist-collapse when any external pressure-is ap- "pliedtoit.

The above and other objects and advantages-of the inventionwillmore fully" appear front the "-'-following description, made in connectionwith "the accompanying drawings;- wherein li-ke refer- 'encecharacters refer to the same parts throughout the views and in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the apparatus with a figure of a man wearing a body enveloping suit indicated in dotted lines.

Figure 2 is an enlarged side elevational view with portions in section of the connection between the inlet conduit and the branch conduits.

Figure 3 is a view partially in plan, with porlow.

" In Figure 1' there is showna complete ventilating harness assem-bly. It includes an inlet con-- r duit iz'which leads. to a branch coupling or connection indicated generally at I3 in Figures l through'3. The inlet conduit l2 connects with v an' inlet lbranch M which communicates with-a 35" Chamber I5 to which the branch is connected by suitable means, such-as' threads l6. Thecham shown in Figure 1 have shoulder straps or loops 23 connected thereto. These are adapted to receive the upper arm portions .of the wearer and to support the conduit sections 2| and 22 from the shoulders.

The lower ends of the conduits 2i and 22 are provided with wrist straps or loops 24 as is clearly shown in Figure 1. At the extreme end of each conduit 2| and 22 is an outlet opening 25 which preferably is so located that air will flow from the conduits inside of the garment sleeve just above the cufi.

Extending horizontally outwardly from the casing I is a branch 26 which is adapted to extend about the waist of the wearer and said conduit may conveniently be provided with a plurality of air outlet apertures 21.

Another branch conduit 28 extends upwardly from the chamber l5 and is provided with a loop or strap 29 at its upper end which is adapted to fit upon the head of the wearer. The conduit 28 has an end air outlet 30 which is located in the inside of a helmet which forms part of a uniform or coverall.

Still another branch conduit 3! extends downwardly from the chamber and it is of such length that it will terminate in the right leg portion of the arment adjacent the angle of the wearer. Its lower end is provided with an air outlet 32 and an ankle strap 33.

In the upper portion of the right leg conduit 3| is a T connection 34 to which is connected a left leg conduit section 35 having a lower air outlet opening 36 and an angle strap 37.

Secured to the upper portions of the leg conduit sections 3! and 35 are thigh straps 38 as shown in Figure 1.

Referring to the shoulder or upper arm straps 23 it will be noted that a cross strap 23a maybe provided to connect them and prevent them from slipping down the arms of the wearer.

In Figure 7 there is shown another means for attaching air locating the several branch conduits mentioned above. Instead of mounting the conduit sections by means of straps which are adapted to encircle various body parts, the conduit section such as the section 8 of Figure '7 can have its outwardly extending flanges Illa sewn to the garment fabric indicated at 39. However, in such a construction the harness or conduit system becomes a portion of the garment unit, whereas in the arrangement of Figure 1 the conduit system is completely separate from the garment.

As pointed out above a ventilating system or conduit harness arrangement such as shownand described can be conveniently utilized to. ventilate the entire body of the wearer of a relatively close-fitting coverall type of garment. By placing the air outlets in the conduit branches at various strategic points, not only will the body be cool at this point but the air will circulate generally through the garment. It isof decided advantage, however, to locate the outlets at spaced points to insure complete distribution of air in various extremities of the garment. The several conduits can be made extremel small so that the assembly is not cumbersome but it will still distribute an ample supply of air to accomplish the desired purpose. As pointed out above, the conduit sections are readily flexible but are held against collapsing by reason of the helical wire 9 which will withstand considerable external pressure.

It will, of course, ,be understood that various 4 changes may be made in the form, details, arrangement and proportions of the various parts without departing from the scope of my invention.

What I claim is:

1. A ventilating system for clothing including an inlet conduit, a plurality of branch conduits connected to said inlet conduit, said branch conduits including a pair of leg sections, a pair of arm sections and a waist encircling section, and said conduits having ventilating outlets at points remote from their connection with said inlet conduit, and said waist section having openings therein at spaced points along its length.

2. A ventilating system for clothing including an inlet conduit, a plurality of branch conduits connected to said inlet conduit, said branch conduits including a pair of leg sections, a pair of arm sections, a waist section and a helmet section, said conduits having ventilating outlets at points remote from their connection with said inlet conduit, and said conduits having shoulder harness means attached thereto for supporting the conduits on a human figure, and said helmet section having a head engaging support thereon.

3. A ventilating system for use inside a body enveloping suit having a trunk portion, legs and arms, comprising inlet conduit, a plurality of branch conduits connected to said inlet conduit and including a pair of leg conduits, each of sufificient length to extend substantiall throughout the legs of said garment, a pair of arm conduits of sufiicient length which extend substantially throughout the lengths of the arms of said garment, a waist conduit of suflicient length to at least partially extend about the inner waist portion of the garment, said branch conduits having outlets therein at points remote from their connections with said inlet conduit, and said waist conduit having openings therein at spaced points throughout its length. 7

4. A ventilating system for clothing including an inlet conduit, a plurality of branch conduits connected to said inlet conduit, said branch conduits having ventilating outlets therein at points remote from their connection with said inlet conduit, and each of said branch conduits having a flange extending outwardly therefrom and extending substantially coextensively with the length of" the branch and longitudinally thereof and providing means whereby said conduits can be secured to the clothing with which they are associated. I

JOHN D. AKERMAN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in th file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Miller M Oct. 21, 19417 

